


It Begins Again

by nothingeverlost



Series: Elaborate Lives [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-03
Updated: 2013-06-03
Packaged: 2017-12-13 21:30:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/829091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothingeverlost/pseuds/nothingeverlost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They don’t understand that he has no happiness for the Dementors to steal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Begins Again

**Author's Note:**

> madrebelhunter made an awesome 'have you seen this wizard' Azkaban wanted posted of Gold. And then this happened.

“The cell is empty. Where is the prisoner?” 

“Look up, sir. Thinks he’s a bat, that one.” From the rafters of the ceiling, Rumpelstiltskin giggles. It’s been so long since he’s had visitors. A long time since he’s had anything to look at other than the walls of his cell.

“Shiny little prince, come to see the creatures in the zoo.” He slithers down the bars, stopping halfway to stare at the visitors. The guard he has no use for, but the other two. ”Hair as dark as ebony, but not your daughter, missy. Hair of spun gold, like her father.”

There’s a gasp as he lands. They think he’s crazy. Anyone who has lived eleven years with the Dementors must be crazy.

They don’t understand that he has no happiness for the Dementors to steal.

“What about her?” The woman is wise. She asks the question but does not give the name. Names are power.

“He’s mad.” The princeling raises his head, hand going for the wand that isn’t there. No wands in Azakban; there’s no telling what a deranged wizard might do if they got ahold of one. He’s every inch a true Gryffindor, the boy who thinks he’s from one of the oldest wizarding families. Little does he know that the family that raised him is not the one that bore him. There's a woman somewhere grieving for the son she never raised.

“She’ll be the one to lead the battle this time. The savior of us all. She must fight or we all will die. Little Emma.” It is not time yet, but he can see. So much blood. So much death. She must be ready. ”You think she’s safe, but there is both friend and foe at Hogwarts.”

“The fighting is over. It ended eleven years ago when She Who Must not Be Named was killed.” The snowy one is quieter, but there is a strength in her that much not be underestimated. ”My daughter will not have to fight in a war like we did.”

“Is that so?” he giggles, and knows there is nothing else to say. He has warned them. The prince does not see, but the woman will know to look, when the time comes. ”Are you done with your paper?”

“Pardon?”

“Your paper, missy. An old wizard can’t do any harm with yesterday’s paper, can he?” He holds out a hand, daring to reach through the bars. There is a rare kindness in the woman, and she gives it to him.

They are gone a minute later, to continue their tour. Rumpelstiltskin retreats to the far corner of his cell. Suck small, rare things remind him that he is still human.

It is the third page that changes everything. A small picture about a woman rescued from an old Death Eater stronghold, thought long abandoned. She was painfully thin and the black and white picture did not show the vivd blue of her eyes, but he knows.

“Belle.”

He begins to make his plans to escape.


End file.
